With its roots going back to 1828, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) based in Preston, is one of the UK’s largest universities with a student and staff community approaching 38,000. The university has a large teaching portfolio with over 350 undergraduate programmes and over 200 postgraduate courses. Research and innovation is at the heart of UCLan, and was the winner of the Times Higher Education Awards (2018) in three categories – Excellence and Innovation in the Arts, International Collaboration of the year and Most Innovative Contribution to Business-University Collaboration.

The Centre for Sustainable Transitions (CST) will be the main group that will be participating in the INCLUDE project. CST is a multidisciplinary group made up of Engineers, Social Scientists, Architects and Psychologists to work on systemic challenges presented by climate change. Through transdisciplinary work, the centre provides unique perspectives, creative ideas and research towards developing technical and socially sustainable solutions, responses to change, and modes of production and consumption. A myriad of societal challenges are also explored such as territorial and political changes brought about by Brexit, Covid-19, climate-related instability and associated environmental issues, questions surrounding energy demand, generation and supply, zero carbon agenda and its potential impact on health and wellbeing of communities, and society’s ability to predict and respond to potential future scenarios and uncertainties (e.g. climate induced disasters). There are about 40+UCLan staff members within CST, who are collaborating and coordinating the activities carried out by the centre.

Prof. Champika Liyanage, will be involved in the project as the key person from CST along with Dr. Ruchira Yapa. Champika is the Professor of Facilities Management.  Champika has published over 150 articles and has a successful funding record securing funding  from sources such as EU COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), FP7, ERASMUS+ and Horizon 2020 and the Home Office (UK). Champika is also the Associate Editor of the Built Environment and Project Asset Management Journal (BEPAM) since 2016. She is leading several key initiatives in University-Industry Partnerships relating to disaster risk reduction activities. Champika’s expertise in INCLUDE project will be in the area of university industry partnerships . Dr. Ruchira Yapa is a Lecturer in Electronic and Robotics Engineering and his expertise are in the areas of emerging technologies within electronics and computing sphere such as in power electronics, robotics, AI, IoT etc. Dr. Yapa has served as a technical reviewer in UK and international conferences such as IET PEMD, UK and IEEE ICIIS, Sri Lanka. Both Champika and Ruchira will provide knowledge and expertise on emerging technologies and web-based applications to fulfil Outputs 3 and 5 of INCLUDE.

Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety, Lund University, Sweden.

Research, education and serving local, national and international communities in all hazards – all society risk managemnent and risk reduction

Founded in 1666, and today with with 40,000 students and 8,160 staff, Lund University (LU) is ranked among the world’s top 100 universities in the world. The University offers one of the broadest ranges of programmes and courses in Scandinavia, based on cross-disciplinary and cutting-edge research.

The Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety is a leading centre in research and education on how people, organisations and society prepare for, deal with and recover from events that might threaten something of value.

We study how events themselves are managed (during an emergency/crisis) and how risk is managed (before the events). Even though the contexts in which the research is conducted are diverse, and the problems studied might vary considerably, a key aspect that characterise them all is the presence, and importance, of uncertainty. Uncertainty, in the present context, stems from the fact that we cannot fully know what will happen in the future. However, a key assumption in risk management is that our actions today may influence future outcomes in a positive way. Thus, despite considerable uncertainty we may do actions today that result in a better outcome tomorrow. Our work takes place across disciplines where crises are not confined or isolated to one domain or realm – from natural hazards affecting infrastructure and people, to climate change impact transforming how societies arrange and manage themselves, and to population movement and displacement resulting from disasters or conflict.

International co-operation with other universities and organisations is central to the work at the Division. Our partnerships range from Scandinavian and world wide universities, to advising Swedish government agencies, and all the way to the UN system, the Red Cross movement and several donor agencies. The Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety plays an important role in several educational programmes at Lund University, as well as commissioned education for continuing professional development.

Professor Mo Hamza, together with his team, has engaged and, continues to, work with and advise organisations such as: The World Bank, Asia Development Bank, UNDP, UNISDR, DfID, IFRC, Sida, ActionAid, Swedish Red Cross, The Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights, and the Swedish Civil Contigencies Agency (MSB) on projects and assignments focusing on disaster risk and vulnerability reduction, post-disaster recovery, climate change impact and adaptation in fragile and failed states, environmental displacement and capacity development.

For more information about our research, teaching and advocacy, please contact Professor Mo Hamza, Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety, Department of Building and Environmental Technology,

Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden

For more information about the Division: https://www.risk.lth.se/

Vilnius Gediminas technical university (VILNIUS TECH) is a leading higher education institution situated in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Established in 1956, VILNIUS TECH is one of the biggest research universities in the country, with a strong emphasis on technologies, engineering and university-business cooperation. VILNIUS TECH is a member of over 50 international organisations and has over 200 partners consolidated by international projects. VILNIUS TECH has coordinated and participated in international programmes, including EU-Asia-link, ALFA III, Tempus, ERASMUS+, Framework 6-7, H2020, Eureka, etc. The Department of Construction Management and Real Estate (CMRE) at VilniusTech is well known by its achievements. With that expertise in e-learning, intelligent library, computer learning and tutoring systems, which have been identified as one of the potential mechanisms to be developed to support LL strategies, CMRE will substantially contribute to support the implementation of LL strategies. It is committed to developing web-based intelligent, biometric and computer learning systems for real-world construction and real estate applications. Department research field: multivariant decision support systems in resilience management, construction, health and safe house, energy efficiency, climate change, artificial intelligent technologies on the Internet, e-city, big data analytics. Department is active group in terms of R&D projects, participating in more than 10 different EU, Africa, Asia and national projects (COST, FP-5, FP-6, FP-7, TEMPUS, LLP, Intelligent Energy Europe programme). Department is a Erasmus+ project coordinator. Deriving these projects, Department has contributed to the scientific community by publishing scientific articles in the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science journals.

Keio University is one of oldest and largest private university in Japan, established in 1858. Total number of full-time university faculty members is 2,300 with another 1,500 support staff. The total number of students is 33,400, with student teacher ratio of 15:1.  It has 10 undergraduate faculty and 14 graduate schools. For the 2019 FY, Keio had an annual revenue of 163 billion Japanese Yen [equivalent to 1.48 billion USD]. Keio University established the Shonan-Fujisawa Campus（SFC）in 1990, and the Keio Research Institute at SFC (KRI) was formed in 1996. In keeping with the philosophy of Keio University, KRI always strive to be at the leading edge of learning and research. KRI believes that being at the forefront of advanced research is essential to support SFC’s problem identification/problem solving style of education. As part of the social responsibility of Keio university, the Keio Research Institute at SFC conducts cutting-edge research; promotes the revitalization and modernization of universities; and contributes back to society through research results.

GRIL (Global Resilience and Innovation Laboratory) in Keio University is headed by Professor Rajib Shaw (www.rajibshaw.org), and engages in cutting edge education and research in disaster risk reduction. We developed several online courses along with overseas universities after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami in cooperation with UNDRR, and also facilitated the higher education program in DRR by establishing Asian University network from 2009 onward. Another specific work of the laboratory is promoting youth and innovation in the field of disaster risk reduction.